Cal slowly rose to his feet, the weight of his saturated clothes making it difficultfor him to stand erect atfirst.He then, instinctively, spread his arms wideand facedthe sun,letting thewarmth brilliantly fuseatrophiedmuscles andbones, andreboot a brain that had gone off-line.
His eyes were closed for a goodfive minuteswhile his bodyunderwent extensive repair. Neurons weresparking wildlylike a group ofconnectedpowerlines. When he wasfully restored, Cal’s eyes opened wideas heturned to land.
His face turnedfroma blank to slateto one offrustration andfury.Then he defiantly exclaimed, “HARTWELL!” ashe raisedhis fists toward the perfect, azure sky.
Cal dropped his fiststoward his sideand thencroucheddown in a sprinter’sposition. He thenfocused on me, and only me, as the fire ball blazed a scorchingtrailtoward my lair.
Once the coordinates were set, Cal exploded out of the blocks, throwing sand in everydirection behind him until he hit land.
The two-second journey along the coast felt more like 20 minutes to Cal. He thought about manythings on his wayto ‘meet hismaker.' The first of which was Sharon – for a moment he thought about putting off killing me for a few minutes until he could visit her first. Butwhen hedugdeeper,more anger wasunearthed.She had left him downthere forwho knowshowlong? So,he stayedon the courseof hisoriginalobjective.
Cal longed to seehis sister and father,and the nephew he left behind. But the one person he thought about the entire timewas his son, Daniel, and how hardit musthave beenforhim togrow up without a father. Theimageof Daniel as achild sent Cal to another level ofhunting,through his focused rage.
He turned the corneras the action continued toslow. I opened myfrontdoorand was notvisible to Cal,who was so hyped up that it appeared – to the advanced naked eye – that hehad runpast hisintendedtarget.
I stoppedin histracksand thenwas driven backinto my houseandonto thefloor.I looked up and saw Cal Brewster, breathing hard and holding my still-beating heart in his hand.
“I hate Monday’s,”I panned. “It’s going to be a long walkhome,” I said as I died for the 100thtime.
Cal dropped the now beat-less heart on the floor and then walked over and cleanedhis hands offin thekitchen sink.
LOVE
Daniel shook his head in disbelief and then mentally reached for the
picture of the familyback inSan Francisco during happier times. He studied the picturefor the better part of sevensecondsand then asked, “What happenedto us?”
Daniel floated the picture over to me, asI had studied the trio manytimes inrecent days.
I initially talked withmy headdown. “We had a great life. Your momand Iweremadly inlove, andthen youcame along and I life was so much fuller. Wetraveled, welaughed, andwe really enjoyed each other’s company.”
My face turned blank, “Thenthe plague hit… and…” I tried tohold back theicicles. “Andthen, before Icould doanything, youbothweregone.”
Daniel took it all in andthen responded, “So,you only became a vampire so you could see us again?”
I nodded in agreement.
Daniel could see the merits in such a noble act, but that still didn’tsatisfy his curiosity.
“So,why me?Why turnme? I mean,you could have just told me.”
I sentthe picture back tothe table and returned to my usual, unflappable self.
“I could have just told you? That would have worked out. How come you never really questioned – all of those years –who I was?”
Daniel searched for the answer, I filled in theblank.“Because youknew me.”
“BecauseI trusted you,” Daniel stated.
“BecauseI am yourfather,” Iadded.
Maggie wasthe newBeach Haven High School librarian, and she also happened to be the firstiteration of my wife whodied inthe early1900’s.
Maggie’s life had been fairly stress-free until she decided to pickup and move from her roots in Portland, Maine. At thetimeshehad a greatlibrary joband wasabout tobuy herfirst house when herparents were killed in a freak skiing accident.
Instead of staying in Maine and putting down roots, shesold herparents’ houseand got thejob in Beach Haven. The NewYork community washer second choice to a job she was offered in – of allplaces – San Francisco.
Maggie was allset to takethe job.She even went out to the WestCoast and spenta long weekend in the area, meeting with school personnel and looking around with a realtor tofind a place tolive.
Everything wasin place untilshe walked around by herself on Sunday morning. Maggie turned a corner andwas hit withan Empire State Building-sized flashback.
She was holding a little boy’s hand and he was saying, “Did you see that momanddad?”
The flashback continued as the boy –wearing a white dress shirt, a cap, wool pants, andshoes – ran up the long flight of stairsto what was presumablytheirhouse. Sheturnedand kissed aman, but hisfacewas blurry and she couldn’tmake him out.
The flashback stopped and she was standing in front of the veryhouse she livedin with me and Daniel,at least whenDaniel wasnamedNathanial.Something was telling her at that moment that thiswasn’tthe placeshe wassupposed tobe.
Maggie looked in aweat thehouse as her cellphone buzzed, alerting her that she had an e-mail. Shepulled herphone out ofher purse and opened the e-mail, which was fromthe Beach Haven School District. They wanted to interview Maggiefor theirsoon-to-be-open librarian position.
She was a firm believer insigns.The combination oftheflashback withthe eerily-timed e-mailconvincedher wherehernext step in lifewould likely occur.
It was 1:59 and 56 seconds. Danielturned tome in ourhouse andsaid,“You ready?”
I replied, “As ready as…”and then we were standing in frontof Maggie’s door, “I’m going tobe,” Iseamlessly finished mysentence. Ithenlooked atthe doorbellandnodded.
Daniel rang the doorbell without even touching it. The bell never actuallymade an audible sound, only Maggiebelieved she heard it.
“It’smy gift totheenvironment,” Daniel beamed as he contributed to the reduction of noise pollution and Maggie’scarbonfootprint.
Maggie swung the door open and she looked extremely relaxed and radiant ina pairof jeans and a t-shirt, with no sign of shoes or socks. The 21st century version of Maggie was much “crunchier” thanher 19th/20th century predecessor.
“Daniel Thompson is that you? Comeon in here!”Maggie exclaimed with joy over seeing her favorite new student from theprevious year.ShehuggedDaniel andthen moved on to me, her life mate.
Maggie kissed me andthen weallstartedwalking toward the living roomof her ranch house.
“So Thomas, how do you know each other? I’ve never heard you mentionDaniel before,”the full-fledgeddetective voiced.
Daniel slowed Maggie’sheartbeat enough until she was essentially frozen in
